A 21-year-old fire department volunteer has admitted that he sent texts about a bomb at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in hopes that when other fire companies were tied up at the center, his station would get to respond to other calls.

Taylor was sentenced Thursday to 12 months and one day in prison followed by three years of supervised release. Taylor was also ordered to pay $1,487.77 in restitution to the Columbia Fire Department and the Columbia Police Department to cover the cost of their response to the hoax bomb threat and pay a $100 special assessment fee to the court.

Taylor on Jan. 4 sent texts to random people, two in South Carolina and one in New York, saying someone had placed a bomb in the parking lot of Dorn Veterans Affairs Medical Center on Garners Ferry Road. One of the texts said, "Hey Montana, this is Sosa. Omar said he put a bomb in the parking lot or something…in the VA hospital on Garners Ferry Road. I am scared and I don't know what to do."

All three people contacted law enforcement agencies. Investigators determined that the texts were referring to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Columbia. As a result, the Columbia Police Department, the Columbia Fire Department and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center Police Department responded and placed the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in lockdown and swept the parking area for explosives.

Officers were at the scene for three hours before determining that the texts were a hoax.

The FBI was able to trace the texts back to a cellphone and email account belonging to Taylor.

When agents approached Taylor, he admitted to sending the texts to random numbers in an effort to draw other fire engines to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in hopes that his fire station would then be called to respond to any other calls that occurred during that time frame.